WeaveMaker is fundamentally a dobby weaving program. However, its cornucopia generates designs which can stretch the limits of dobby weaveability. Indeed, used at, say, 32 harnesses, some combinations of cornucopia settings are practically guaranteed to generate unweaveable designs.

And yet many of these designs are beautiful, and certainly they tend towards the unusual. Thus, designers using WeaveMaker will see designs they like but which they are disinclined to dobby weave.

There are several possible solutions to this dilemma. One would be to use WeaveMaker’s CAD tools to improve the weaveability, a quite practical approach but one which may reduce the qualities of the design which make it so attractive. Another would be to interpret the design as a knit fabric rather than a woven one. Another would be to use a jacquard loom in place of a dobby loom.

This section deals with the latter approach—recasting a WeaveMaker design for dobby weaving.